effi

Have not heard a lot of good things about Dell. Apparently their customer service help line is in India somewhere. You either cannot understand what they are saying or they never call you back. A friend of mine who is a computer architect, always makes a point of calling the helplines of any product he is thinking of buying. If a foreign voice answers then he hangs up and buys something else.

sibsie

I like the idea of calling a helpline. I hate shopping at the best of times and electronic shopping finishes me off.

I'm going to have a good old click on the Dell site and see what's what. I haven't used a desktop in years and don't want to go back to one. I don't do games or anything similar and love that you can cart laptops around. Not that I ever go anywhere mind!

Printer wise I used a Lexmark in Spain and loved it. I didn't bring it with me and got a HP5150 last week. I can't stand it. It's so flaming slow.

excpomea

I think you will find Dell has backtracked on this. Sop many Yanks were complaining about not being able to understand them forrneeers, that Dell moved the customer service back to the US.

All the same, don't let that put you off, Dell offers a great range of pcs at amazing prices. Hell I even own a Dell myself. (3 infact)
I love it it's the dogs bollocks as we used to say back home..

BritGuyTN

actually, unless i'm very much mistaken, i think you'll find that dell moved corporate support back to the usa - home users still get someone with a slight mumbai accent

housey

Circuit City also have the Compaq Presario on offer for $699 after rebates. It has an Athlon processor rather than Toshiba's Celeron - but I dont know if that makes much of a difference.
Gill

NC Penguin

Hearing someone on a Customer Service number speaking in a foreign accent might not necessarily mean that the Customer Service person is outside of the US. I'm sure there's plenty of Americans/legal residents in Customer Service working in the US who don't have American accents.

effi

I am sure there are too, but with all the outsourcing going on I think I would ask the person on the other end where they were from. If they were from a foreign country then I would not do business with them. Too many unemployed in this country at the moment, myself included.

Lothianlad

In the UK if you call your bank with a query or any customer services call centre you find yourself talking to someone who is actually in somewhere like Bangalore.

effi

With all the outsourcing that is going on in this country, USA is going to end up with a workforce of fast food employees. Places like China and India are now buying up the American companies they were once working for. Kids are now coming out of college with that all important piece of paper only to find there is no work. A lot of them end up waitressing etc to make ends meet, and the majority of them are moving back in with their parents cause they cannot make it. It is the same old story, pure out and out greed, companies trying to save bucks by moving the work outside the country.

NC Penguin

I would also like to point out that consumers themselves are also responsible for the trend in jobs leaving the US.

Why?

If consumers want goods cheap (and they do. Look at revenue at places like Walmart, Target and those kind of stores), the manufacture of these goods will have to be done at a cheaper cost in countries outside the US. Even Mexican labor is looking pricy these days when it costs even less to manufacture in countries like Nepal, Kazhakstan, India, etc.

I would like to buy American made and branded goods, especially durable items like kitchen appliances, washing machines and the like they are few and far between.

excpomea

And expensive too ..

Ben

We have a dell and are very pleased with it. When we had a problem with the speakers, their customer service number worked very well, the guy was very good and knowledgeable and the problem was sorted very quickly.

Would definitely buy another one

Gross50

if you want the real deal, get a Mac. its heavy duty and you can watch as much streaming as you can handle.

as for laptops you get what you pay for. nothing compares to an IBM.

i wouldnt touch an athlon processor with a 40 ft pole. keep away from them.

Thydney

Packard Bell (NEC) are the own make of Currys and PC World and nothing to do with Hewlett Packard.
I bought a 17" HPZD7010 has just about everything I needed.

sibsie

Thanks everyone. I've had a shitty few days so haven't had a chance to look at anything. When things settle down I'll have a look at the Dell site again.